I need Smart 3G!
Once again I’ve been away because of work… I broke my previous record of 1660 km because I travelled twice that… The sad thing during that trip is that I didn’t have any chance to connect to the internet because we came home late to the hotel… which didn’t have any wi-fi… and by that time the internet kiosk was already closed… of course when I came home yesterday in the evening after driving for 7 hours straight I got greeted by a barrage of email.. and stuff to do…
I need Smart 3G!!!… been canvassing for a cheap GPRS enabled second hand phone with Blue tooth, because all I’m after is to use it as a modem… also a USB Blue tooth dongle because I can’t find a data cable for the phone I’ve been wanting to get… Although I’m a loyal Globe user, I just can’t afford their per/kb charging for their use of their 3G/GPRS connection…so I’m going with Smart 3G so I just get billed 10 bucks for 30 min. of use… or is it 15 bucks already?… say it isn’t so Smart, say it isn’t so…
In terms of coverage however, I’ve noticed that: if from Davao I’m going to the south (Gen San, Digos, South Cotobato etc) Smart has the better coverage… North bound however, Globe wins (Bukidnon and Cagayan De Oro.)
Bleh, guess this means that I have to bring 2 cellphones around with me all the time… unless I decide to ditch Globe altogether… hmmmm? *raised eyebrow*
Actually, this is just one of those “my dog ate my assignment” type post to explain why I haven’t been blogging lately *snicker*
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As regards subscription to services, follow your instinct, bai. I think you’re on the right track. Actually, you don’t need two phones. Hehe.
Kailangan Bai, my cellphone isn’t GPRS enabled… hehehe
Per-KB pricing may make more sense in some situations. One I can think of is if you’re connected to one of the IM services. Smart will charge you whatever it is, 10 or 15 bucks for half an hour. I think that, for that much, you can stay connected to your IM accounts for a few hours, even if your IM activity is high. Haven’t quite done the arithmetic yet, been too lazy
OTOH, forget to switch off your IM and leave it running for a few hours on Smart, and weep 
Also for checking mail: there’s a certain point where per-KB is cheaper. Figure how much time it’ll take to download 1MB worth of mail, and see if that multiplied by Smart’s hourly rate is cheaper than 260 pesos (Globe’s per-KB).
Again, I don’t quite know because I haven’t done the arithmetic. I should do that “soon”.
Great analysis silverlokk!, Thanks for dropping by
[…] Yep, been doing field work so I haven’t been able to blog (sounds like an echo of a previous post)… to the extent that I’ve reached the eastern part of the Visayas already… so it looks like I’ve tripled the current distance I’ve previously traveled… the great thing about this trip is that I didn’t have to drive a single kilometer… too bad however that I wasn’t able to get Smart 3G to work on my phone, hence wasn’t able to get online to check mail and blog and stuff… I have to remember to go to the Smart Wireless Center and ask them how to set it up… I would have loved to blog about it at the travel blog… except that we hardly had time to stop for social shots… except maybe for some stolen shots I took of Catbalogan, in Eastern Samar… except for the vehicles and the occasional cellphone reloading station, you’d think that that town was trapped in time… Leyte also seems like an island preserved in the past… the streets of Ormoc are narrow and the buildings are old, there is no mall… yet… […]